Monday, November 24, 2008

On the negative side, I've been using the word "thing" a lot more

Leading up to the recent election, Bravo started airing The West Wing again. Honestly, I never should've seen this--they air it at 8 a.m., and I really should be out the door slightly ahead of that to make it to work on time. However, this is not always the case, and I wound up seeing that TWW was on. And now I can't stop watching. I've pulled out the DVDs and have watched at least a half dozen or so episodes over the past week.

Man, I forgot how good that show could be. The dialogue. The characters. The idealism. I still want Toby and C.J. to get together. In my world, that's how it happens. Anyway. But it is interesting watching it in light of how much things have changed since it was one--keeping in mind that I've been watching seasons 1 and 2.

It jumped out me in particular in the episode I watched tonight ("In This White House"). It's the first one with Ainsley, a Republican who winds up working in the Democratic White House. The conversation of her friends, talking about how much they hate the people working in the White House, really jumped out at me, considering how much more divided the country seems than it did back when it aired--October 24, 2000. Of course, a good portion of that division would begin not soon after. Anyway, it may not be a bad episode for people in general to watch now; just because someone believes things opposite of you doesn't make him or her worthless.

I also found myself somewhat uplifted. I guess I kind of see Obama as Bartlet. Hey, there are worse things to aspire to.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Now they just need to find Flower

I admit that it's been years (if not decades) since I've seen Bambi, but I can't help but be moved by these pictures of a real-life Bambi and Thumper. Be sure to check out the photo captions for some interesting Bambi trivia.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Random pet peeve

You know what grinds my gears? In discussions about tv shows, when someone is all, "I thought it was a really weak episode, but since it's [insert whatever show], it's still better than 99% of the other shows on tv." I'm not sure why this bothers me so much; I think maybe it signifies a level of condescension that's unnecessary. I guess I feel like when discussing episodes like that, a show should only be compared to itself. I mean, I enjoy both Big Brother and The West Wing, but it's not like I can compare the two. And while the West Wing may be better than Big Brother, they're both fun to watch. And also? Individual episodes of great shows can still suck.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Living the Privileged life

I finally watched this week's Privileged (I really shouldn't say "finally", as I have two episodes of Gossip Girl and the entire season of Life patiently sitting on my DVR), and was reading what other people on Television Without Pity thought. The main character, Megan, has had three guys interested in her this season--though one is out of the picture now, thankfully--and people were discussing how they wish she would just be single, as it makes sense for her at this point.

I can see the argument. It can be frustrating watching shows where the characters have guys falling over themselves all the time. And the character has dealt with a lot, and probably shouldn't be with either of the love interests at the moment, for various reasons, related to her and to them individually.

But honestly, I watch television (and movies, and read books, etc.) as an escape. I'm quite familiar with the life of a very single 20-something, having recently been one myself. (And a week in, the life of a very single 30-something [oh God, I'm a 30-something!] doesn't seem terribly different.) I watch that sort of show to live vicariously through the characters, and while everything doesn't have to revolve around romance--I do realize there's more to life--it's nice to see cute, rich guys being interested in characters I relate to.

I'm easy that way.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

So meaty!

I watched Talk Soup back in the Greg Kinnear and John Henson days, and enjoy The Soup these days. Due to Joel McHale's recent appearance in DC, the Post had a decent-sized article on the two the other day. I quite enjoy the show; it's a good way to keep up on what's going on in the insane reality television world (and world of children's television; Yo Gabba Gabba now frightens me, and I hope that my niece never discovers it). Seriously, without this show, I'd have no idea who the people from The Hills are. This wouldn't necessarily be bad, mind you, but I would miss out on quite a few pop culture references. And we can't have that.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Also, Doris Kearns Goodwin is awesome

Brent and I went to the taping of The Daily Show on Monday, the night before the election. It was awesome, though it did involve a lot of waiting around. (Which I didn't really mind, actually, as I had spent the morning doing a lot of walking around, so sitting was totally cool with me.) I was bummed that none of the correspondents were there (how is John Oliver supposed to meet me if he doesn't bother showing up when I'm at the taping?), but still had a blast.

One thing I noticed was that Jon was much quieter. As in, the clips are all pretty loud, but his mic must be hooked up to something else, because he sounded quite a bit softer than the video clips. It wasn't hard to hear him, but there was a marked difference.

Also, watching the taping from farther away was weird after being so close watching on tv, if that makes sense. I didn't really feel that the studio was particularly small, but it just all seemed kind of far away, despite the fact that we were in the third row.

Now I'm just wondering what it would be like to go to a Colbert Report taping. Also, what it'd be like to go to a taping that wasn't the night before Election Day. Jon does a Q&A before the taping itself, and except for one question, they all dealt with the election. It's really interesting to hear him speak, but it'd be cool to see him talk about maybe more personal stuff.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

How much Who can you pack into a weekend?

Last weekend I was at a Doctor Who marathon. The episodes we watched (and number Doctor) were:

The Sontaran Experiment (Four)
The Pirate Planet (Four)
City of Death (Four)
Black Orchid (Five)
The Five Doctors (Five, technically)
Remembrance of the Daleks (Seven)
Boom Town (Nine)
The Christmas Invasion (Ten)
Human Nature (Ten)
Family of Blood (Ten)
Blink (Ten)
Utopia (Ten)
The Sound of Drums (Ten)
Last of the Time Lords (Ten)
Time Crash (Ten/Five)
Partners in Crime (Ten)
The Sontaran Strategem (Ten)
The Poison Sky (Ten)
Turn Left (Ten)
The Stolen Earth (Ten)
Journey's End (Ten)
Curse of Fatal Death

Not too shabby! It was very illuminating. There's such a drastic difference between classic Who and modern Who, but they were all a lot of fun to watch. It's just that watching classic Who involved a lot more mocking than watching the newer ones.

Watching the old episodes made me wonder a bit how exactly the show came to be such a beloved institution; but then, it's not fair to judge it by today's standards. The show doesn't necessarily hold up terribly well, but it was still so cool seeing the old Doctors. They maybe weren't as funny as the more recent Doctors (though Five seemed fun), but I still liked what I saw.

It was particularly interesting watching last weekend, just after David Tennant announced that he'd be stepping down as Doctor after the 2009 specials. Which way will they go with the next Doctor? Continue with the young, cute Doctors? Go back to an older Doctor? I will say that with Stephen Moffatt in charge, I can't imagine he'll be less funny.

My pick? Damian Lewis. Hey, the Doctor said he hoped he'd be ginger!